Penn State Falls on Road To Nebraska
The halftime stats said it all. 16 of Penn State's 26 points were from the free throw line. D.J. Newbill had six points heading into the locker room at the half with all six points coming from the stripe.
Other than that, it was just another typical night for the Nittany Lions (8-15, 0-11 Big Ten) who dropped their 11th straight conference game to the Cornhuskers (12-12, 3-8 Big Ten) in Lincoln, Nebraska Saturday night 67-53.
Despite putting up 53 points, there was no momentum for the Nittany Lions. Nebraska took an early lead by the eight minute mark of the first half and never looked back. The Cornhuskers went on a 12-2 run over the next five minutes.
Penn State didn't fare much better in the second half as Nebraska went on another 12-2 run to expand its lead to 15 with 17 minutes left to play.
It took the Nittany Lions ten minutes to score a field goal after the two minute mark of the first half.
Late in the second half, Penn State drew within 12 points, but that was as close as Patrick Chambers' team would get.
Shooting just 29.2 percent from the field and going 2-of-10 from beyond the arc, Penn State struggled shooting all game. In the later points of the first half, the Nittany Lions had more points from the charity stripe than from the floor.
Between the two teams, 51 fouls were called with Penn State getting 23-of-32 points from the line.
Newbill and Jermaine Marshall were the only two Nittany Lions to score in double digits, with 17 and 16 points, respectively. The next leading scorer with six points was sophomore Alan Wisniewski, who had only totaled six minutes of play all season.
The tandem of Dylan Talley and Brandon Ubel would combine for 30 points to pull the Cornhuskers to the .500 mark on the season. However, the Huskers weren't much better from the floor, only hitting 32 percent of their field goals.
The Nittany Lions will return home on Thursday to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes at 9 p.m. on ComRadio as they are continuing their pursuit for their first conference win of the season.
Jeremy Kahn is senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jkahn@psu.edu.